heel cup after surgery

[Debra JGL]

Has anyone heard of wearing a heel lift after surgery?? My doc. let me know that I'm a candidate for a shorter fusion but I would have to wear a heel lift after surgery, to ensure the ending fused vertebra is centered, maybe indefinately. I never heard of this and can't find anything about it on the internet, or in the books I have. I may need to change my name to confused, sorry Evelyn

[dianeh]

Actually, I had a leg length discrepancy before surgery and it was still present afterwards. My doctor sent me to a PT place in Manhattan and I was told to wear a lift in my left shoe. At the time I was having a lot of sciatic pain and the cause was the piriformis muscle being too tight and inflamed. I used it for a year, my pain went away with other treatments and now I no longer use it
because all that pain is gone. The surgeon did not say this though, just the person he referred me to. Also, it had nothing to do with the fusion itself.
dianeh

[Doodles]

Dianeh--That's interesting. I've tipped to the left since surgery and before had some leg discrepancy for years. Now it seems more noticeable as I sit on a hard bench, for instance, it seems the pelvis isn't the same heigth. My pt actually had me use a small lift in my left shoe for a while but it didn't really help me. I thought it made my leg hurt. I haven't used it for months. But now...I've been dealing with leg pain on my left leg for over a month. Then it all settled in my left buttocks which is incredibly sore. I finally went to a chiro and it's some better. The soreness if I try to bend over, put my foot on my knee to put on socks, etc. about sends me through the roof. I thought it was sciatica but that "p" muscle also seems to be the one that is so sore. So now I'm wondering if I really do need a lift. Janet

[Shari]

This is an interesting thread. I wore a lift in my left shoe from the age of 12 until my surgery. I asked my surgeon if I still needed to wear it, and he told me my hips were even, so he said I didn't need it anymore.

About 3 years ago I had a doctor that put me on 2 scales, one for each leg, and he said that I carried 10% more weight on my left side. I put my lift back in my shoe, just for my own curiosity, and my back started hurting again.

As weird as this may sound, I lose my balance in the dark, or when I shut my eyes. I often wonder if it has anything to do w/ me not having a lift. I'm also hell on high heels, I look drunk w/o the benefit of a good buzz!!!

???
Shari

[foofer]

There's a thread on this topic from a few weeks ago. I have different leg lengths so it interests me:

http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/showthread.php?t=10654

[Debra JGL]

Shari - Did your hips even out after surgery? Maybe you wore that heel lift for so long your body thinks it's on a tilt without it. That's great you don't have to wear it anymore, hopefully it was freeing. I actually do have a heel lift that I have worn on occasion, my hips are very uneven from my curves. My right hip (area) hurts alot when I don't wear it, but when I do my left knee starts hurting after a while. Maybe I'm putting too much weight on it. I guess I would need a heel cup after surgery bc only with my hips even, and the doc doesn't think they will even out totally, would the ending of the fusion be centered ensuring a better fusion. I searched the topic on the forum and found a few people who wore the heel lift after surgery. The lift gives my hip so much relief I like to wear it, I'll just have to figure out how to deal with the knee pain. Maybe a pt would have some ideas.

[dianeh]

Yes, this is an interesting thread. When I was recovering my family started telling me I was leaning to the left and it felt like it as well. We took a picture and sure enough, I was. I was stumped by the pain in my buttock and wasn't sure what the pain going down my leg was from. I discovered this book, Back Pain by Loren Fishman and a few pages were devoted to piriformis syndrome and how it is diagnosed. PT kept telling me this muscle was tight but I didn't know there was a syndrome. I didn't think my sciatica was from a disc problem so I figured this might be it. I made an app't at this doctor's office and although I didn't see him one of his associates diagnosed me. I had to follow a strict program at PT where they used high frequency ultrasound and 10 minutes of stretching with a timer on-it really hurt and was hard on the therapist too, but gradually it got better. I also took Lyrica for 2 years. His associate left that practice and I followed her, but there was an article in The NY Times about this doctor and this method of treatment. The pain has been gone completely now for 2 years and I wore the heel lift during that process. They also measured my legs and told me how much shorter the one leg was but said never wear a lift that compensates for the entire difference, just a portion of it. I think the lift was 1/4". I still wear it on the treadmill but not all the time. If you have access to a WII Fit there's a balancing part that lets you know how your weight is distributed. Hope this is helpful. It definitely worked for me but was a lengthy process. It was at least 3 months of PT. I also had one trigger point injection into that muscle during this process which helped the pain.
dianeh